Page 77 of Bound to a Killer

I don’t owe anyone an explanation. Not even her. If she can’t find a way to move past what happened, maybe our friendship isn’t worth salvaging.

It was only a matter of time before she drifted away, just like everyone else I’ve ever gotten close to. She’s not any different.

For all I know, she was already headed that way. I saw the signs. Like the time she brought up Jayce to me after school, before the sleepover.

They’d probably been talking behind my back since then. And with me gone, they only grew closer.

It stung. More than I wanted it to.

I push through the crowd, ignoring the sharp pinch of betrayal knotted in my stomach. My vision is blurred, the tears barely held in.

“Wait,” someone calls out from behind.

I’m too focused on getting the hell out of here to register the voice, at least not until Jayce steps in front of me, blocking my path.

I glance around him, searching for Clara, but she’s nowhere to be found anymore. Vanished into thin air. Frustration claws up my throat, jaw clenched tight.

“Please. Move.”

“Look,” he begins. “I know you and Clara aren’t on speaking terms, but?—”

I flinch at her name, the pain still too fresh. “Whatever she sent you to say, I’m not interested. Please move.” I force the words out as calmly as I can, even as heaviness swells beneath my chest.

He tilts his head slightly, jaw angling as his hand drifts to the back of his neck. A hesitant smile tugs at his lips. “It’s not like that.”

I blink, waiting to see if that’s all he came here to say.

My skin prickles as I feel eyes drifting our way. The weight of attention presses down on me, and I hate it. The last thing I need is for Hunter to show up at his side, parroting whatever nonsense they usually spew. I want nothing to do with any of them.

He starts to talk again, but I don’t wait to listen.

I hunch my shoulders, bracing myself as I squeeze past him, tight and fast, before he can stop me.

Numbness spreads down my legs and into every one of my toes as I rush to flee the wide-open hallway, desperate to shield myself from the dozens of eyes glued to me.

I thought I could do this without Clara, but suddenly everything feels too much to bear, suffocating. How much longer will this last?

With clammy fingers and weak arms, I extend them forward, pushing the bathroom door aside and hoping for an empty stall to camp out in.

“Wait, don’t,” comes a voice I’d recognize anywhere. Her hand clamps over my own to stop me.

Her voice hitches slightly as I turn to face her, Clara’s brows pinched together like it physically hurts to speak. “Can we talk?”

My jaw slackens. I’m too stunned to speak. And for just a moment, I wonder if maybe we can finally put the hurt feelings behind us.

But then I remember who she’s been surrounding herself with since I’ve been gone. I stiffen right back up again. “Now you want to talk?”

Her teeth grind like she’s considering her next words very carefully. I try to shake her off, but her grip is firm, refusing to let go.

“What’s your problem?” she snaps, then immediately softens, like she didn’t mean it to come out that harsh.

I manage to yank myself away from her before responding. “What ismyproblem? You’re the one who’s been giving me the cold shoulder, not the other way around.”

“That’s not fair. I’ve been nothing but a good friend to you, despite how hard you’ve been trying to push me away. God, Aria, I thought you’d died, or something really bad hadhappened to you. Then you just show up and act like nothing happened…expecting me to just go along with it. Don’t you even care how that’s affected me?”

My hand balls into a fist at my side. “Must’ve been real hard on you since you replaced me the second I was gone.”

She flinches, eyes glazing over as she parts her lips. “You’re being unfair,” she says, her voice quieter now, the sharpness gone. “Everyone was worried. You have no idea what it was like after that night.”